Imagine on a Tuesday morning while you are off to work, someone hands you a newspaper titled Vra!ment (translated as “really”). Except for its unique design, this newspaper looks like any other paper you’ve seen. There are traditional newspaper segments like Editorial, Foreign Policy, Health and more. There’s even a horoscope and crossword puzzle attached at the end.

Yet, the first headline catches your eye, which tips the whole scene into disarray. The breaking news on the front page reads “Contraception and abortion finally banned by law!” The more you read the scarier the newspaper gets.

The very next page of the paper boasts the fact that private healthcare has taken over with people responsible for their own well-being. The Energy and Resources section of the paper proposes to save clean air and water only for those “deserving” few. In the Sports section, women are urged to quit games and focus on being wives and mothers as that is their “primary function.”

Despite the absurdity of its content, Vra!ment is a social experiment created and circulated by the Centre d’Action Laïque (CAL). This is part of their educational campaign – ‘Extremism, our prison’. Circulated on January 23, this fake newspaper wanted to highlight the dangers of far-right extremism before the 2024 elections.

Six months into its launch, The Fix spoke to François Finck, Advocacy Officer, Europe and International at the CAL, to understand the rationale behind the experiment and what impact it has achieved since its launch.

Vra!ment: An experiment

CAL, a non-profit organisation, has a long history of championing the rights of secularism in the French-speaking part of Belgium since 1969. Finck says that the Centre is “concerned about the rise in extremism, especially far-right extremism, nationalism, xenophobia, racism, and all other right-wing traditionalist views about gender and LGBTQ+ community in Europe.”

In a bid to raise awareness of the dangers of far-right extremism, they launched their campaign “Extremism, our prison”. “Some people want to vote for the far-right because of economic insecurity or being fed up with mainstream politicians. We wanted to show that voting for the far-right is not limited to a single issue. It’s a whole package which risks the rights of everybody in every sector,” Finck notes.

To spread this message, the Centre came up with the idea Vra!ment, a newspaper published by the fictional party “Juste Nous” (translated as “just us”). With this fictional newspaper, they planned on telling real truths.

Production phase

The idea for this newspaper came last spring but the work officially began in September 2023. The Centre worked with the graphic design company Atelier Création Graphique (ACG) from September 2023. ACG was tasked with the work on the graphics and illustration of this fake newspaper. ACG’s illustrator Jacques Flam handled most of the caricatures and design elements including the fake party’s symbol.

Several members from CAL’s various regional branches were involved in pitching and sketching the ideas for the content. CAL also got POP Productions on board to design a website that would display their fake newspaper alongside a pop-up option to read the educational side of their dystopian article.

While the pop-up feature with the educational content was not possible in the physical newspaper, the team decided to add a QR code to guide the readers to their website where the actual educational impact would take place.

Distribution

The newspaper and website were both made public on January 23, 2024. Members of the CAL themselves went on streets during peak rush hours to distribute the papers. 21,000+ papers were handed out in French-speaking parts of Belgium like Brussels, Charleroi, Liège and more. The papers were distributed free of cost.

Finck mentions that the distributors made sure to mention the nature of the paper and its fictional qualities while giving it to the readers. They also encouraged the readers to check the QR code at the end. This would direct the readers to their website where they had the educational explanations of the fake articles.

Finance

CAL declined to disclose the cost of the entire experiment. The funding for the experiment was gathered as part of their overall campaign funding. As the only organisation in Belgium representing secular humanists, CAL receives funds from the federal Belgian government. Their other source of financing is the regional authorities in Brussels and Wallonia. This fund is given to them to carry out educational campaigns for the public.

Impact of the paper

“Despite the fictional content, each article is inspired by something real,” explains Finck. All of their articles are based on some event that has taken place or spoken about by far-right parties in Europe. The gravity of the content alongside its unique execution, has made it a talking point amongst many people.

This experiment was covered by local newspapers and radio shows including RTBF Auvio, BX1, La Libre and more. The buzz of activity has pushed 11,000+ unique visitors to their website. The other notable impact is the demand for their newspaper by teachers. Class teachers have included Vra!ment as study material for their class “Philosophy and Citizenship.” Through its pages, this fake newspaper has taught many the benefits of democracy and secularism. Finck says, “We only wanted to raise awareness on far-right extremism but seeing people talk and have discussions on it so freely, is the biggest impact our Vra!ment could make.”

Source of the cover photo: generated by ChatGPT, DALL·E

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